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Bloomberg China’s increased reliance on non-naval ships to assert its claims in the South China Sea is complicating U.S. efforts to avoid a clash in the disputed waters, according to 7th Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin. While the U.S. and Chinese navies are working more closely under an agreed code for unplanned encounters at sea, the deployment of coast ...

Bloomberg The political crisis roiling Ukraine’s post- revolution leaders is coming to a head after the International Monetary Fund threatened to cut off aid and another top reformer quit. If efforts to revamp the cabinet fail, the risk is early elections. PM ArseniyYatsenyuk is set to report to parliament this week on government performance, with proposed personnel changes to follow. ...

Singapore / AFP Oil prices turned lower again on Monday as Iran prepared to ship its first consignment of the commodity since sanctions were lifted, reigniting worries over a global supply glut. Both main contracts had soared more than 10 percent on Friday on a report that the OPEC producers’ club was open to output cuts that could drag prices ...

JIM GOMEZ / AP With the symbolic handshakes and unity photo-op, President Barack Obama’s high-profile summit with Southeast Asian leaders in California this week aims to step up pressure against China’s increasingly worrisome behavior in disputed waters. Forging a common front and encouraging bolder rhetoric against Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, however, will be a challenge among the ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has called on the ministers of the 12th Cabinet of the UAE government to work diligently and faithfully to help promote sustainable development of the country, achieve the aspirations of its people, and take the UAE to even higher stage of advancement beyond its growing international stature ...

Bloomberg Debating in the shadow of the death of conservative US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a downsized and more combative Republican presidential field battled in South Carolina over foreign policy, abortion, truthfulness, campaign tactics and blame for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks. The ninth debate featured just six candidates, including an even louder than usual Donald Trump, who blamed ...

Bloomberg As preparations for this week’s European summit enter their final stretch, France is leading resistance to UK demands for a deal to shield British banks from the rules governing lenders in the euro area. French negotiator Philippe Leglise-Costa pushed back against British Prime Minister David Cameron’s insistence on fencing off financial regulation for the City of London at a ...

Bloomberg The perpetrators of violent clashes in Hong Kong this week shattered its values in one night, the city’s financial secretary said, urging those involved to “turn their horses back from the cliff.” The “small group of people who lost rationality” marred the city’s interests and tarnished its image, and their actions are a departure from Hong Kong people’s respect ...

TAIPEI / AP Rescuers in Taiwan pulled out the remains of the final victims of last week’s earthquake and with a minute of silence ended the search with the death toll of 116, most of them in a collapsed high-rise apartment building. All but two of the dead came from the 17-story Weiguan Golden Dragon residential complex, which toppled when ...

Munich / AP A senior figure in the Syrian opposition movement on Sunday criticised the truce deal forged by the US and Russia, saying Moscow was continuing its onslaught on civilian areas. “We have gotten used to conferences and hope put into words but what we need is action, and the action I see is that Russia is killing Syrian ...